Patriots-Eagles: People were watching

Folks were dialed in to last Friday night's home preseason opener for the Pats in Foxboro.

Neglected to mention this when I received the email earlier today, but here's the word from the Patriots' team web site:

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Patriots made their 2014 preseason premiere at Gillette Stadium on Friday, Aug. 15, prevailing over the visiting Philadelphia Eagles 42-35 in a game that was the most-watched program in the Boston market for the second straight week.

The game delivered a household rating of 13.7 and market share of 25. The next-highest rated show of the week was Wednesday night’s America’s Got Talent on WHDH, which garnered a 9.3 rating. Eagles at Patriots averaged 499,600 total viewers and peaked at 8:45 p.m. with 684,600 viewers.

WBZ Channel 4’s Patriots All Access pregame show ranked second locally for Friday programming with 199,600 total viewers (Patriots game broadcast ranked No. 1) and was the 11th most watched program of the week. Patriots 5th Quarter Preseason also enjoyed success for the second straight week, as it averaged 170,100 total viewers, a 53% increase over last week’s game at Washington, and was the 12th most watched program of the week.

The Patriots will take on the Carolina Panthers on Friday, Aug. 22 for their third preseason game. The game will be televised from Gillette Stadium on WBZ Channel 4, with Dan Roche and Christian Fauria again providing the call from the booth and Matt Chatham and Steve Burton reporting from the sidelines. WBZ Channel 4 will provide television coverage for the Patriots’ final preseason game as well, as New England will travel to New Jersey to face the New York Giants on Aug. 28.